Check if you are running "Custom Mode" for Secure Boot. Switch it to "Standard Mode". Also, ensure your boot drive is GPT formatted (not MBR). The Future: Is This the New Normal? The Secure Boot requirement for VALORANT is not an anomaly—it is the canary in the coal mine. Microsoft already requires it for Windows 11. Epic Games is experimenting with stricter kernel enforcement for Fortnite. Even Call of Duty ’s Ricochet anti-cheat is moving toward firmware-level checks.
Without Secure Boot, a cheat could load a rootkit into the UEFI. Vanguard would look at the running system, see no anomalies, and let the cheater play. With Secure Boot on, that UEFI rootkit is stopped before it ever reaches the RAM. The backlash against the Secure Boot requirement was fierce. Players took to Reddit and Twitter with valid concerns: valorant secure boot
In five years, you likely won’t be able to play any major competitive online game without Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 enabled. As a gamer, being asked to dig into your BIOS is frustrating. Being told your perfectly functional five-year-old PC is suddenly "incompatible" stings. And the privacy concerns surrounding kernel-level anti-cheat are valid and worth discussing. Check if you are running "Custom Mode" for Secure Boot
However, for the health of competitive gaming, Secure Boot is a net positive. It raises the bar for cheaters from "download a free script" to "physically hack your motherboard." It forces cheat developers to compete with billion-dollar hardware manufacturers. The Future: Is This the New Normal
Professional esports integrity has improved. Players can no longer use USB injection devices or firmware-based recoil macros because Secure Boot + Vanguard flags them as suspicious.